Solidarity

“The role of PBI accompaniment has been very important in various regions where we conduct field work. This support has allowed resistance and the defense of the rights of the peasant, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities that we accompany.  The accompaniment is essential because international presence becomes a deterrent and this has meant lives are saved.”

 - Father Alberto Franco, Inter-faith Justice and Peace Commission

38 years ago, on September 4, 1981, the international human rights organization Peace Brigades International was founded.

“I think Peace Brigades plays a key role in saving the lives of those of us who do not believe in guns, those of us who do work that is frowned upon in this country. It is a guarantee for daily life; I feel very safe when I’m with Peace Brigades, they are like guardian angels to me. I really feel that the daily accompaniment lets me continue to pursue my work the way I do it; I feel much calmer.”

 - Claudia Julieta Duque, investigative journalist

In 2018, 441 volunteers provided support to 13 PBI country groups, including PBI-USA, 7 projects and our International Office located in Brussels. 84 international volunteers provided protection to 1334 threatened human rights defenders in countries where PBI has a presence. Click the link below to read about the work of PBI as well as the brave human rights defenders we accompany in our 2018 annual report.

On April 16th, the U.N. Security Council warned that “the Colombian peace process stands today at a critical juncture.” In his remarks before the Security Council, U.S.

March 19, 2019

In the first four months of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, which began on December 1, 2018, at least seventeen human rights defenders and journalists were murdered, an increase over last year’s rate. If killings continue at this rate, fifty-two defenders and journalists will be dead by the end of 2019.

Attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and others exercising their right to free speech in Honduras have increased in the first months of 2019. Below are some selected incidents illustrating a trend toward a continued closing of space for dissent.

March 8, 2019

February 25, 2019

Despite multiple alerts, illegal armed actors continue to fight for control of the territory in the Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó river basin areas (in the region of Urabá in northwest Colombia), resulting in ongoing violence and killings, placing the Afro-Colombian, mixed-ethnicity and indigenous communities in the region at serious risk and affecting their physical and emotional security and integrity.